Ghitanis Literary Analysis

Ghitanis ability to illustrate the present while corresponding with the past allows the reader to connect with the historical record through a descriptive story telling and makes it one of the most significant literary pieces in the Arab world. “Every first has a last and every beginning an end” represents the narrative going back in time while indicating the beginning of the novel as the end. In this essay I will illustrate Zayni Barakats narrative through the use of documents, letters, proclamations, and reports. I will also show how the structure of this novel is a silent statement of Ghitanis political and subjective strategies. To be able to embellish his own historical present without addressing it directly is represented throughout the entire novel. The main example I will explore is the fact that the novel follows the story of al-Zayni Barakat without actually having him appear as a character. The novel highlights Zayni’s rise to power, and how he succeeded to keep that power after the fall of the Mamluks. Every event and character is directly related to Zayni, but we never actually meet him throughout the entire novel. Ghitani correlates and relates these historical events during the 16th century by telling the novel through an embellished story, which allows us to spectate and learn the historical context during this period of time. The passive voice throughout the novel allows us to appreciate the significance of the history in the novel.
In the beginning of the novel Zayni Barakat was appointed as one of the most prestigious positions as a market inspector know as Muhtasib. This is first where we see the decline in the hopes the public have for him while speaking at the pulpit of the al-Azhar mosq...

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...ories, or novels. The reader was able to see how a new leader can gain power but also loose it due to specific events. Zayni Barakat was able to rule a state and enforce new laws and systems but in the end we are taken in a full circle and he loses his power to be able to change the course of history. We see how the novel suggests that it is a document of time and how an individual has little to no control over ones destiny. The economic, political, and social struggles make the fictional aspects of the novel become ad mists the struggles that citizens face every day. We are drawn into the uncertainty of the novel and the environment in which surrounds the Egyptian people at the time. Gamal al-Ghitanis narrative as a novel is why it is known as one of the best Arabic novels and therefore teaches more to the audience than a historical reference would illustrate.